How to take screenshots in Windows 11

If you want to know how to take screenshots in Windows 11, you have reached the right article. This article is going to show you all the options that Microsoft makes available to us to take screenshots, regardless of the type of keyboard we use.

And I say that it depends on the keyboard we use, because TKL keyboards (without number keyboard) have become very popular for some time, so some functions available from the keyboard itself to take screenshots, they are not available.

Print Screen

The classic method for taking screenshots in Windows on a full keyboard is pressing the Print Screen key (We can also find it as ImpPnt, Print Screen PrtScn … variants of Print Screen or Print Screen in English) a key that can vary its location depending on whether it is a full keyboard for desktop computers or a laptop.

On a full keyboard, the Print Screen key is located located just after the F12 key. On notebooks, this key is usually integrated into the Function keys by pressing it in combination with the Fn key.

Once we have taken the screen capture, what we have really done is copy the image shown on our computer to the clipboard. If we want to paste it directly into a document, we go to it and press the Control + V keys to paste.

But, if we want to cut or edit it, we must paste it into the Paint app to create a file, file that we can save, share, edit.

Print Screen + Win

With the introduction of the Win key on keyboards, Microsoft implemented a new method to take screenshots with the keyboard. However, unlike the previous option, using this method, a file will automatically be created on our computer.

All the screenshots we make with the key combination Print Screen + Win are stored in the directory Images – Screenshots.

When using both the Print Screen key alone and accompanied by the Win key, it must be taken into account that, if we have two or more monitors, this option will capture all monitors in one image.

Win + Shift + S

With the arrival of Windows 10, Microsoft introduced a new key combination for taking screenshots Through the keyboard shortcut Win + Shift + S. This combination of keys allows us to make 4 different types of captures:

Rectangular cutout

The first option shown is the one that allows us to make a rectangular cutout

. When selecting this type of cut, we must mark with the mouse the rectangular area of ​​which we want to take the screenshot.

Freeform clipping

The second option available freeform clipping, allows us take a screenshot by selecting the area to capture. If we only want to take a screenshot of a person, we can cut their silhouette so that only the person is the object of the capture.

Window cutout

The window clipping option is ideal for making a screenshot of the application window where we are. This option is usually used to do tutorials, where only the window of the application we are talking about is shown and thus we avoid that the background can distract attention.

Full screen cropping

With the fourth and last option, full screen clipping, we can make a capture of all items displayed on screen.

Once we have taken the screenshot, we must access the notification center and save the screenshot that we have made. If our intention is to take several screenshots continuously, this is not the option, since it forces us to save capture by capture.

Win + G

The Xbox Gamebar is another of the tools that Microsoft makes available to us to take a screenshot through a keyboard shortcut.

Xbox Gamebar is the tool that Microsoft makes available to users who use a PC to play games to record videos of your games without having to resort to third-party applications.

We can record the screen of our equipment, as long as the equipment meets minimum hardware requirements. By clicking on the button represented by a circle, will inform us whether or not we can record the screen.

But, in addition, it also allows us take a screenshot from the Capture menu, a window that is displayed in the upper left corner of the screen when we press the Win + G key combination.

Screenshots are stored in the Xbox Gamebar app, and only allows us to copy it to the clipboard to paste it later in the application where we want to use it.

Snipping application

Through the Snipping application, we can access the same options offered by the keyboard shortcut Win + Shift + S, but with the additional functionality of allowing us to establish a delay time from when we execute the action until it is carried out.

Through the Snipping Tool application, we can also make 4 types of captures:

Rectangle mode

It allows us to take a screenshot in the shape of a rectangle.

Window mode

This mode allows us to take a screenshot of the application that we have open in the foreground.

Full screen mode

Using this mode, we will take a screenshot of the entire screen as we are seeing it.

Free form mode

The free form tool allows us to make a free cutout, that is, of a specific shape, a circle, a triangle, cut out a person or an object.

Once we have selected the type of tool we want to use, we must click on the option Delay. This option offers us 4 options:

• Without delay.
• 3 second delay.
• 5 second delay.
• 10 second delay.

Once we have made the capture, this will show up in the snippet editor, an editor with which we can modify the size, make annotations, share the image …

Third party apps

After seeing the large number of methods that Microsoft makes available to us to take screenshots, resorting to third-party applications is pointless.

If you have some very specific needs and those offered by Microsoft do not meet our needs, we can make use of the Share X application, an open source application that we can download through this link.

ShareX allows us create workflows once we do the capture, other methods to take screenshots, share the captures once edited, record the screen in GIF format, record video, captures of complete web pages …